Authentic use of English language | Teaching English | British Council

Last week was the final week of the semester in 2008. It was a perfect moment to schedule another interesting activity that would make the course more practical, realistic and idealistic. Since I have finished covering all of the syllabus, I decided to include my students in an activity outside the classroom.

The activity:
This activity focused on integrating the four aspects of English learning skills that are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Students were asked to interview a strangers in English by asking a minimun of five simple questions such the stranger's age, hometown, courses. The students were also encouraged to proceed with as many questions as they would like to as to enable the communication to go on smoothly. Later, they were asked to write a two-page journal about their experiences.

The students were informed before hand to gather in a public location in the university. From my observation, the location was very suitable for the activity that I had planned since it was very strategic. It was the place of which many students get around to study, meet up for discussions or wait for the next class.

The main objectives of this activity are:

Students will be able to use the target language which is English language
Students will become more confident to initiate a conversation in English

In a nutshell, the activity was a success! I plan to conduct a similar activity for next semester. The outcome of this activity is beyond my expectations! The students shared their feedbacks in their journal by including their feelings, hopes and gratitude. Most of them agreed that this activity has helped them to boost their self-confidence, form new friendship and experience an amazing English language activity.